Dougherty set to take over at Haverford High
Luke Dougherty is proud to call himself a lifelong resident and sixth-grade mathematics teacher of Haverford School District. He is a graduate of The Haverford School, but don’t hold that against him.
“I’ve been here all my life. I didn’t go to Haverford High ... but I’m a Havertown guy,” he said. “And for years, I have always respected what Haverford High football was all about.”
Dougherty, 28, officially became the head football coach of the Fords Tuesday evening. A three-year assistant coach with the program, Dougherty takes over for Joe Gallagher, 65, who retired after 29 years in May.
“I view it as the best job in Delaware County,” said Dougherty, who served as Haverford’s quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator the last few seasons. “Haverford is a great district with a great administration. I just met with the (team) earlier and I told them that I’ll go on the record and say this is the first head coaching job I’ve ever applied for, not because I didn’t think I had the experience, but it’s because this is the only head coaching job I’ve ever looked at and said, ‘That’s what I want to be a part of.’”
Dougherty becomes the youngest head football coach in Delaware County. His background in coaching is far from ordinary. Having never played the sport in high school, Dougherty had to work harder than the average coach to prove he belongs among a tight-knit fraternity of former players. That he never played the sport hasn’t fazed him in the least. If anything, it’s only motivated him to be a better coach.
Despite his youth, Dougherty has an impressive coaching resume. While attending Haverford School, where he helped the golf team win Inter-Ac League titles, Dougherty was eager to get into the coaching field. He got his start with St. Denis CYO, then in 2012, one year after he graduated, former Haverford School football coach Mike Murphy brought him on staff. Dougherty spent three years as a coordinator for the freshman team and running backs coach on varsity before spending the 2017 season at Downingtown West under Mike Milano. He joined Haverford High in 2018.
“To be with Murph and Mike Milano and then to be with Joe Gal, it’s like you’ve struck gold,” Dougherty said. “You go from a guy who built the Haverford School from almost nothing and won a bunch of Inter-Ac titles to a guy like Milano, who I think is the only coach to win a District 1 championship at two different schools, with Unionville and D-West. And then you have Gal, whose name speaks for itself He’s a legend.”
As quarterbacks coach, Dougherty groomed Trey Blair, the 2019 Daily Times Player of the Year, from an uber-talented football athlete to an excellent quarterback. The 2019 Haverford squad won the most games in program history and advanced to the semifinal round of the District 1 Class 6A tournament.
It was during the 2019 season Gallagher entrusted Dougherty to start calling plays. Those duties carried over in 2020, when he became full-time offensive coordinator.
“In an age where high school athletics has sort of lost that feel of this is supposed to be fun and it’s supposed to be about the kids, Gal did it the right way,” Dougherty said. “Gal is the ultimate kid at heart and he treated everybody with respect and just tries to do good by everybody. That is really hard to do in today’s world and he did it with grace. It was effortless for Gal. Our team manager in the 2019 season was just as important as Trey Blair, and that was all Gal . ... The way he treated people, the way he gave respect back to people, is something I really take with me.”
One of Dougherty’s greatest influences, outside of football, was his grandfather, the late John McNichol, who coached at Monsignor Bonner and for UDHL Babe Ruth. McNichol is most remembered in Delco for his work in local politics. He was Upper Darby’s GOP leader and one of the most powerful political strategists in the county.
“I get asked, ‘Do you know what your grandfather did for politics in Delaware County?’ Well, not really because he never really talked about it with us. What he loved was coaching and being around his grandkids, being around the family,” Dougherty said. “He taught us respect and how to treat people right. His viewing was one of the biggest
testaments to how he treated people, seeing many former players of his and all the people he worked with. It was pretty special.”
Dougherty has built a strong rapport with his current players, many of whom he coached in CYO ball years before they arrived at Haverford. He couldn’t ask to have a better group of players, whom he says are willing to “go on this mission together.” The mission begins now, in the weight room, and in the weeks leading up to the first mandatory practice in August.
“Our kids are awesome,” Dougherty said. “I’ve never been welcomed into a community like the way I was at Haverford School District and it’s something that permeates throughout the school. We have polite, hardworking kids here. And it’s a very inclusive program.
“I live in the community, I’ve grown up in the community, and I feel like there’s work to be done. I feel like these kids want to do that work and I’m committed to lead them.”